Our new Supreme Court Justice

Looks like Justice Rothstein handled himself quite well at yesterday's public hearing, the first of its kind in Canada. 

 

I'm not sure that I would be comfortable thinking that judges should be advancing the law with a social agenda in mind...It seems to me that the social agenda is the agenda for Parliament ... The court's job is really to take what you (MPs) say about social issues and try to interpret it as best we can and apply it to the facts".

 

That is very, very nice to hear.

 

The Canadian way

"But in fact what we're doing is we're going into their yard...We're going to start kicking them...My soldiers are trained to fight. But they're also trained into the humanitarian assistance and peace support, and that's our focus," -- Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, who is now in charge of a multinational force in Afghanistan

Stark

Something very remarkable is happening around the globe and, if you want the short version, a Muslim demonstrator in Toronto the other day put it very well:  ''We won't stop the protests until the world obeys Islamic law.'' -- Mark Steyn

Perhaps Harper is a genius

His approval is at 59%.

Our new SC justice

Seems like a decent guy, and a good choice, not withstanding the mouse patent thing...

Canada's Supreme Court

One of the many differences between our nation and the US comes in looking at the Supreme Court.  Here is the shortlist Harper is looking at:

The short list for the vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada includes names that might not be expected to soothe the arch-conservative breast.  One is a judge who approved a patent on a living animal, another supported Charter rights for gays, and the third is an academic married to an New Democratic Party strategist.

It's probably not quite as bad as that, but there is clearly no Alito or Roberts in the mix...

Refreshing words about Iraq

Here's something you don't have to come to Iraq to appreciate: If an elected government can stabilize itself here -- if an Iraqi army, overwhelmingly Muslim, can fight and defeat jihadist extremists -- the victory will deliver a crushing blow to extremists everywhere. It's significant, I think, that Iraqis have not mounted large demonstrations against the Danish cartoons. As a matter of fact, at a dinner served by an Iraqi-owned catering company, every plate came equipped with three pats of butter prominently labelled, "Product of Denmark."

If, on the other hand, Iraq were to fail -- if the insurgents pushed Iraq into chaos -- the whole world would pay. I asked yet another U.S. officer: Why not just quit and withdraw? He answered, "These [jihadis] would follow us home."

It matters desperately to each and every citizen of every democratic country that the Americans and the new Iraqi government succeed here. And it matters desperately to the brave men and women fighting here to know that the world supports their work. They are fighting to defend you too.  -- David Frum: 

 

In defence of the Western Standard

Good commentary from the National Post: 

Canadian readers would find most of the cartoons -- which are widely available on the Web -- unremarkable. Even the ones that depict Muhammad unsympathetically are no worse than hundreds that have, over the decades, belittled Christ or the Virgin Mary. A couple are downright clever: One has Muhammad standing on a cloud waving his arms at arriving suicide bombers proclaiming, "Stop. Stop. We ran out of virgins." Another shows him assuaging furious palace guards with the words "Relax, folks. It's just a drawing made by a Dane in south-west Denmark."

But even if all 12 were flattering renditions, many doctrinaire Muslims would still be upset. And that is one of the Standard's points: It is dangerous to let a subset of society dictate what can and can't be published. As editor Kevin Libin wrote in the cartoon issue, "There are all kinds of thing in Islam that ... are considered offensive: homosexuality and women appearing in public with their legs uncovered." Are Westerners to submit to these beliefs, too?

 

Great, great story

One day after CTV News aired a story about a young Afghan boy dying from cancer, an Edmonton church has raised thousands of dollars to pay for his palliative care.

Bloc + Cons = stability?

The bloc wants to keep the government running for a while...which will leave the Liberals free to oppose everything.  It may also give them a second major opening for critisizing the conservatives, the first being on ethics.  Time will tell if these are good moves...

A new era

The Quebec government says it's committed to a strong public health care system, but it's opening the door to some private sector involvement.

Patients will be allowed to use private providers for their health care in the province if they wait longer than six months for knee replacement, hip replacement or cataract surgery.   CTV

It's about time

The Conservative government has created a committee of two cabinet ministers and a backbencher to figure out how best to kill the long-gun registry as soon as possible.   Registry critic Garry Breitkreuz, who is working with Justice Minister Vic Toews and Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, said he has been given wide leeway to deal swiftly with the registry. -- CTV

Round up

Good for the Western Standard for publishing the controversial cartoons.  (They aren't on the website as of now).  Free speech is worth fighting over.

 

If only this were true: Big spending days over for Ottawa : Civil servants tighten their belts, Posh eateries closing their doors. 

 

And maybe the Haitian elections weren't quite that successful after all.  It's a shame.  Canada could take a bigger role in making a real difference in our hemisphere.

The first week

The more I think about it the more I think that having Emerson and Fortier in the cabinet is a bad move.  It alieantes the base, it gives up the moral high ground immediately, and it distracts from the new government's priorities.  And it's annoying.  Booo.

Good news from Haiti

The election went well, apparently.  Nice to see. I also like the CTV site, with lots of video snippets if you're too lazy to read.  Like me.  Only sometimes, though.  Still like those small sentences.  Yes I do. 

The new government

Bay street likes it, but it is in tough against an experienced opposition.  Or something.  I'm still miffed about an appointed senator and a floor crosser on the first day.  Bo...urns.

Full cabinet list

1. Jim Flaherty - Finance
2. Bev Oda - Heritage
3. Peter MacKay - Foreign Affairs
4. Chuck Strahl - Agriculture
5. Rona Ambrose - Environment
6. Jim Prentice - Indian Affairs
7. Vic Toews - Justice
8. Gordon O'Connor - National Defence
9. Loyola Hearn - Fisheries
10. David Emerson - International Trade
11. Tony Clement - Health
12. Maxime Bernier - Industry
13. Monte Solberg - Citizenship and Immigration
14. John Baird - Treasury Board
15. Rob Nicholson - Democratic Reform
16. Stockwell Day - Public Safety
17. Carol Skelton - National Revenue
18. Michael Chong - Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport
19. Gary Lunn - Natural Resources
20. Diane Finley - Human Resources and Development
21. Jean-Pierre Blackburn - Labour
22. Marjory LeBreton - Leader of the Government in the Senate
23. Lawrence Cannon - Transport
24. Michael Fortier - Public Works
25. Jim Prentice - Indian Affairs
26. Greg Thompson - Veterans Affairs

-- via CBC

Stephen Harper and his new cabinet

So Stephen Harper is our new Prime Minister, and there were no shortage of surprises in his cabinet.  More..., and more

• David Emerson crosses the floor (!) for a cabinet position.  What?  I thought the Cs were going to be different... (Goldy Hyder on CTV is saying that Emerson came to them)
• Jim Flaherty, Finance
• Peter MacKay, Foreign Affairs
• David Emerson, Int'l Trade
• Tony Clement, Health
• Gordon O'Connor, Defence
• Vic Toews, Justice
• Rona Ambrose, Environment
• Stockwell Day, Public Safety
• Monte Solberg, Citizenship

27 ministers, almost everyone with experience at the provincial level.  No Diane Ablonzy...With Emerson crossing the floor, apparently the NDP can play king maker again: C 125 L 102 B 51 N 29 Ind 1.  So 125+29=154 (but -1 for speaker?), and the opposition would be 102+51+1=154.  Maybe they will ask someone from the opposition to be speaker? 

 

But why would you want the NDP to be kingmaker?  Doesn't make much sense to me...
 

I'm back

With the election over, I think I forgot to blog for a while.  Anyway, here we are.

• There is rage in the world of Islam over cartoons published in European papers.  The editor who first published them has been fired.  I'm not sure what to say other than how sad it is that there is violence and such uproar over such a trivial thing.  We've had "piss Christ" for a decade now, so don't let anyone tell you that the same thing would happen if the situation was reversed.
  
• What a terrible tragedy that ferry sinking is.  Over 1000 people...
  
• Back in Canada, apparently Dingwall did get fired and got a severance of $417,000.  Nice.  Very nice.
  
• And Allan Rock wont run for the Liberal leadership.  Will anyone?